1. Field of the Invention
This invention is related to the treatment of dentures and especially to more effectively cleaning or deodorizing dentures. This invention is also directed to the removal of biolayers that can build up in confined spaces within a denture and to the capability of denture treatment compositions to wet or contact confined areas where these biolayers can be deposited.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Many methods and techniques have been suggested to facilitate cleaning and disinfecting dentures. Denture cleaning can be broadly defined as the reduction of a biolayer or biofilm and plaque containing bacteria, fungi and virus and pathogens or debris in general. Generally some method is employed to disrupt the plaque coating or biolayer and to soak the denture to allow chemical solutions to interface with denture surface and with porosities, micro-channels, fissures, cracks, fractures and spaces between teeth and the acrylic that retains the teeth in the gum portion of the denture. Additional pores, micro-channels, fissures, cracks, and fractures can be formed as a denture ages or by scratching, by toothpaste abrasives, and bacterial action that pits the denture surface.
One common approach to cleaning dentures is to use effervescent tablets, which foam when placed in water. Conventional tablets contain cleaning agents. Traditionally, these tablets have a composition containing a variety of sulfate salts, such as bisulfates, monopersulfates and sulfates acting as detergents, oxidizers and the like. They have also used alkali metal and alkaline earth metal halides as bleaches. Such compositions have also included perborate, carbonate and phosphate salts in varying amounts to provide effervescence and activation. A discussion of some of these traditional effervescent cleaning compositions can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,857,224, which is incorporated herein be reference.
Limitations have been encountered with standard prior art methods. Strong solutions containing alcohol adversely affect the acrylic. Some cleaning or treatment solutions are too strong for biocompatibility with oral tissues. Microwaving weakens the dentures and may warp the acrylic due to uneven heat buildup. Mechanical means to scrap the denture surface are incomplete and the size of practical mechanical scraping means is too large to remove plaque in microscopic pores, micro-channels, fissures, cracks, and fractures. Furthermore mechanical means tend to scarify or abrade the denture surface thereby increasing fissures where pathogens may build up.
A method for improving the action of standard denture treatment compositions, such as denture cleaners, and an apparatus for use in practicing that method is disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/339,802 filed on Jan. 10, 2003. This pending patent application is entitled Treatment of Dentures at Elevated Pressures. The apparatus disclosed therein has demonstrated the efficacy of employing elevated pressures with standard denture cleaning and treating compositions. However, the apparatus depicted therein, has some practical problems. For instance, it can be difficult to maintain an adequate gas tight pressure seal in a relatively inexpensive pressure containment vessel suitable for use by the average consumer. The rigidity needed for surfaces compressing the seal introduces difficulties because of the limitations imposed by injection molding plastics for such a product. Also, the amount of force that may be needed to adequately compress a seal may be difficult to apply for elderly users who may have inadequate grip strength. It is also important that the pressure generated by effervescent denture cleaning compositions not be lost by a failure to quickly seal the pressure chamber. The denture treatment, pressure containment vessel of the instant invention addresses these and other problems.